97 Trans Am LT1 Exhaust Dilemma
07-13-2014, 10:35 PM
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97 Trans Am LT1 Exhaust Dilemma Okay, so long story short here is where I am at:
-Passenger side cat broke internally and had a rattle and muffler had a few holes in it , and overall it needed new exhaust and it was a little quiet
-Got a Borla Catback and both Magnaflow direct replacement cats for dirt cheap;$500 cheap, aka BORLA WAS FREEEEEE!
-Then also just got UMI track bar, rear control arms, 3pt subframe connectors, strut tower brace, new rear shocks, and new front struts
-sway bars and front arms are planned for the next year or this fall
-also have a CAI and airfoil and in the process of looking for heads, cam, gears, and ???
The Dilemma:
I had the back pipe and muffler portion of the exhaust out last summer doing a fuel pump, major PITA!!!!, so that came out easy. Then it came to getting the cats off to replace them, well even going easy and spraying and working the nuts on the studs to the manifolds back and forth, 4 of the 6 studs broke 3 on driver side 1 on the pass side. Was eyeballing how to drill and tap them and pretty much came to the conclusion atleast the driver side manifold has to come out.
Now if I'm going to pull the manifolds I think I'd sooner spend the extra cash for new headers to pull more power and keep cooler since that is what I am aiming for long term. The thing is I have direct stock fitting cats so I can't do LTs because I don't want to have to go buy more stuff if I already have it, meaning I'm looking at shorty headers.
So basically I found three brands who make them, BBK, PaceSetter, and Hooker. I've read good and bad things about all of them like PS has better performance but the coating chips quick, and BBK has the best coating, so I'm trying to get whats the best of both worlds. Also if someone could explain why the pass side headers don't use the stock flange and require the flange to be cut off and a new one welded on that would be great!
Also my car isn't a DD nor is it a drag car, it's just a weekend or night cruiser to have fun with, do burnouts..at times..., and pick up girls. So any advice would be great.
Lastly I know alot of you will say to sell the stock cats and get LTs but to be honest I don't think I could sell them because I think that is why I found them so dirt cheap.
-Passenger side cat broke internally and had a rattle and muffler had a few holes in it , and overall it needed new exhaust and it was a little quiet
-Got a Borla Catback and both Magnaflow direct replacement cats for dirt cheap;$500 cheap, aka BORLA WAS FREEEEEE!
-Then also just got UMI track bar, rear control arms, 3pt subframe connectors, strut tower brace, new rear shocks, and new front struts
-sway bars and front arms are planned for the next year or this fall
-also have a CAI and airfoil and in the process of looking for heads, cam, gears, and ???
The Dilemma:
I had the back pipe and muffler portion of the exhaust out last summer doing a fuel pump, major PITA!!!!, so that came out easy. Then it came to getting the cats off to replace them, well even going easy and spraying and working the nuts on the studs to the manifolds back and forth, 4 of the 6 studs broke 3 on driver side 1 on the pass side. Was eyeballing how to drill and tap them and pretty much came to the conclusion atleast the driver side manifold has to come out.
Now if I'm going to pull the manifolds I think I'd sooner spend the extra cash for new headers to pull more power and keep cooler since that is what I am aiming for long term. The thing is I have direct stock fitting cats so I can't do LTs because I don't want to have to go buy more stuff if I already have it, meaning I'm looking at shorty headers.
So basically I found three brands who make them, BBK, PaceSetter, and Hooker. I've read good and bad things about all of them like PS has better performance but the coating chips quick, and BBK has the best coating, so I'm trying to get whats the best of both worlds. Also if someone could explain why the pass side headers don't use the stock flange and require the flange to be cut off and a new one welded on that would be great!
Also my car isn't a DD nor is it a drag car, it's just a weekend or night cruiser to have fun with, do burnouts..at times..., and pick up girls. So any advice would be great.
Lastly I know alot of you will say to sell the stock cats and get LTs but to be honest I don't think I could sell them because I think that is why I found them so dirt cheap.
